'IT'S OUR FUTURE'

Julie Dubois spent a few minutes looking outside her window, hoping to live in an eco-friendly world for her family and future generations.

She hopes that Ontario's next government prioritizes the environment.

"The environment is so important because we live on an Earth that has to be healthy for us to keep living a good life," she said. "We've seen too many movies and shows where the Earth is not being taken care of, and people don't seem to realize it is our future if we don't take care of where we live."

She'd like to see them commit to zero emissions and ban plastic bottles across the province.

"We don't have to use so much plastic," said Dubois, owner of Hunnydew Farm. "You can bring your own bottled water to work

without using (single-use plastic) bottles. People are also not throwing (the bottles) away where they can be recycled. They're just throwing them in ditches. They're not being careful, and they're not always nice. We should eliminate plastic."

The issue of plastic pollution has become contentious as BlueTriton Brands, formerly Nestlé Waters, has had its water extraction permit approved by the Ministry of the Environment. It can continue taking out 1.1 million litres of water per day in Erin and 3.6 million litres per day in Puslinch.

The Hillsburgh resident tries to do her part to combat what she deems an overreliance on plastic by not purchasing bottled water.

Martin Rudd is another Erin resident opposed to the use of plastic water bottles, finding them unnecessary.

"(The bottles) biodegrade into microplastics, and the fish eat that. There is no need for it if you take a water bottle with you and reuse it," he said.

Both would like to see the province find ways to curb this consumption.

According to Statistics Canada, Canadians throw away over 3 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. Only nine per cent is recycled, while the rest ends up in our landfills, waste-toenergy facilities or the environment. Plastic waste and marine litter burden the economy and threaten the environment's health, including wildlife, rivers, lakes and oceans.

Plastic water bottles have a deteriorating factor on the environment, but so does carbon pollution from gas-guzzling vehicles. Dubois said she would like to purchase an electric car if they weren't so expensive.

"They're playing on your conscience when they jack up the price of electric cars, and I feel we need more charging stations around," said Dubois. "There's only so many places you can charge your car."

The Town of Erin worked with provincial authorities to obtain funds for electric charging stations in the community.

Keith Brooks, programs director of Environmental Defence, finds that electric vehicles are a solution to pollution, but he would like the provincial government to place intensification of housing development in the core of urban centres instead of taking up more land.

"We know we can accommodate more people in existing urban areas and that doing so creates the kind of community and neighbourhoods that people say they want to live in when you talk about 15minute neighbourhoods," said Brooks.

According to Deloitte, a 15-minute city would be developed primarily to reduce carbon emissions by decreasing cars and motorized commuting time. It is a decentralized urban planning model in which each local neighbourhood contains all the essential social functions for living and working.

Whenever developments are proposed, Rudd would like the province to push for air quality to be considered.

"Development affects the air quality," said Rudd. "You have more cars, then you take away land. They're turning the country into a city."

People who don't have a choice but to commute to work should get an electric vehicle, Brooks said. Those who do have a choice should walk, bike or take public transit.

Dubois, who owns a gas car, plans out her trips to not leave a massive carbon footprint. She tries to be mindful of the impact she has on the environment.

"I'm not going to go out of my way to go grocery shopping," said Dubois. "I'll wait until I have an appointment or must go somewhere. Two birds, one stone deal that way, I don't spend much on gas. If I had an electric car, maybe I wouldn't care as much, but they're so expensive."

"Development affects the air quality, you have more cars, then you take away land. They're turning the country into a city."

- Martin Rudd

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With less than a month until Election Day, reporter Joshua Santos wanted to know what issues are top of mind with voters, and the environment was something many people were concerned about ahead of their trip to the polls.